Take 14 West to exit 72 and continue as above. Note: The Orlando Convention Center is between the Rosen Plaza Hotel and the Rosen Center Hotel. Our meeting is in the Rosen Plaza, so be sure you have the correct hotel. Complementary self-Parking is available behind the hotel. Notify the attendant that you are with the Blinded Veterans Association to get the complementary self-parking. Regular parking is $13 for self-parking and $20 for valet parking. Check with your fellow Blinded veterans, family members, and friends and make plans to join us in Orlando on Saturday, September 13th.

National Legislative Up-Date: The BVA and PVA continue to work with Congress to get 5 633 and HR 1284 brought to a vote. Time is short, Congress will be in recess from late September until the election in November. S633 and HR 1284 would provide beneficiary travel allowances to veterans attending a Blind Rehab Center or Spinal Cord Injury Center for specialized rehabilitation training. Presently, veterans whose income is above the income threshold must pay their travel expenses. It is probable that the increased independence these veterans achieve would result in a reduction in other treatment at the VA and thus result in a saving to the VA. If this legislation is not passed this year, The BVA and PVA will have to start over in the new Congress which will convene in January 2015. Representative Jeff Miller of Pensacola is chairman of the House Veterans Affairs Committee. We urge FRG members to write to Representative Jeff Miller, attention: James Zumwalt, Cannon House Office Building, Washington, D.C. 20515.

Jacksonville VIST Position up-Date: The VIST position at the Jacksonville VA Outpatient Clinic ias been vacant since August 31, 2013 when Louise DiGennaro retired after over 20 years in that position. Since Ms. DiGennaro had notified the Clinic, well in advance, of her intention to retire, the Clinic worked quickly to find a replacement. The position was announced, applications received, interviews held, and a selection made. Unfortunately, when Human Resources at the Gainesville VAMC delayed completing the processing of the paperwork, the candidate decided not to accept the position. There was a delay in reopening the position. In January 2014, the FRG contacted the office of Gainesville VM4C Director Thomas Wisniski and worked with his Executive staff regarding the ack of an announcement for that position. On February ^3td, the position was announced with a closing date for applications of February 24^th Again, applications were received, interviews held, and a selection made. Human Resources Submitted the Candidate's paperwork to the Blind Rehabilitation

Service Boarding Panel and it quickly processed the approval.     Since the candidate is already
working at the Jacksonville VA Outpatient Clinic, in a different position, there should not be any delay in filling the position. At the writing of this Newsletter, it is understood that the new VIST position should be filled by the time you receive this Newsletter. Further information regarding the new Jacksonville VA Outpatient Clinic VIST Coordinator, will be included in the September issue of the FRG Newsletter.

FRG Scholarship Program: The FRG Scholarship Program for the 2014-2015 academic year was announced in the December 2013 FRG Newsletter. The program offered two $1000 Scholarships for children or spouses of Florida Blinded Veterans. In January 2014, a Scholarship Program letter was sent to all members of the FRG. The Scholarship letter contained the guidelines for the Scholarship Program and the method for securing the application packet. Six individuals requested application packets. The cut off date for the receipt of completed application packets was April 15, 2014. One Scholarship candidates sent a completed application packet. None of the other 5 individuals who requested Scholarship Packets returned their packets. Consequently, that applicant will receive a $1000 Scholarship for the 2014-2015 academic year. The successful candidate is Arral Taylor who lives in

Fleming Island and is attending Florida State College in Jacksonville. MS Taylor is working on a Physical Therapy - Occupational Therapy Technician certification program. A check, for tuition, books, and academic fees, in the amount of500 has been sent in her name to the Florida State College in Jacksonville for the fall term and another check in the amount of $500 will be sent in December for the winter 2015 term. The FRG congratulates this successful Scholarship Candidates and wishes her good luck in the future.

FRG Survey Up-date: Those Blinded Veterans who sent the survey, we started in February, can rest assured that it was well worth all of the hard work that many of you put into it. I am happy to give you a snapshot view of the results that we have at this early stage. A more detailed report shall be forthcoming in the next newsletter, because by then we will have completed the total project, and have all of the data entered into the final master data base. We of course did run into a few problems, but those were solved, and by the next time we do the survey, we hope to have worked out all of the bugs. At this early stage I am glad to report that all of the comments that you all took the time to send back to us, have been attended to. Out of approximately 47 problems and or concerns, at least 41 have been satisfactorily resolved. All of the VIST Coordinators were extremely helpful throughout the duration of the survey. One disturbing area that we did run into was phone numbers. Many of our veterans have in recent years gone to cell phone, and have discontinued there land lines. It appears that we are unable to contact about 20 plus percent of the veterans that we have in our data base, at least, based on our finding at this time. What this means is that all veterans that have gone to cell phone and not contacted National BVA Headquarters or the FRG district directors, we have no means of contacting them. Therefore I urge all veterans to check to find out if BVA has a current phone number for you. BBA Membership Director Alyson Alt )800) 669-7079, e mail aalt(bva.org. In closing this report for now, I would once again like to thank all of the blinded veterans, and VIST Coordinators that made this FRG state wide survey possible. Terry King, Survey Chairman

Meeting Reminder: Remember to mark your calendar for Saturday, September 13th for the FRG meeting at the Rosen Plaza Hotel in Orlando. Be sure to call those listed above and make your reservations, before September 10th. If you make a reservation and can't come, please call Jim Can or Gigi Mathis and cancel your reservation before that date, so we won't have to pay for unused meals. We look forward to meeting you at the Rosen Plaza on Saturday, September 13^th Come join us for an informative and interesting afternoon.